The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1887-11-30
A PREACHERS PREPARATION.
How Rev. Theodore CuyIcr Prepares His
sermons--worISs by Daylight,

How Rev. Theodore Cuylcr Prepares His
Sermons--worlks by Daylight.
The Rev. DR.. Theodore L. Cuyler prepares
most of his sermons in his study at the Lafay-
cite Avenue Presbyterian church. Those
who have ever visited DR. Cuy1er's study
must surely have been impressed with its
aspect of cheerfulness, taste and culture.
The room is very large and, IL the weather
outside Is trife cool, there is always q
bright fire burning in the fireplace. On the
mantel above are quaint knick knacks and
photographs. Two sides Of the room are
lined with immense bookcases, which contain
a choice collection of books bearing ON theo-
logical questions. On the wall, at frequent
intervals, are hung etchings and pictures Of
eminent divines of this country and Europe
In the center of the room stands table Of
generous dimensions, on which the doctor
docs his work. On the other side of the room
stands a row of comfortable nrmchairs of
large pattern. The room is in striking con-
trast to the doninies conventional musty
study In reply to my question, "How do
you prepare sermong" DR.. Cuyler said;
II have no fixed rule. Tuesday is the best
day, in my opinion, for beginning q sermon.
never open book on Monday, but on the
following morning make 1t point to go
directly to my study about 0 o'clock and boz
gin the preparation of my sermon. have
never written over two sermons In the
evening. do al my work In day
light. Until about nino years ago l
would always write out one-half, two-thirds
or three-fourths of my sermon and leave the
gaps to extemporize. The result was that
/ sometimes extemporized so much that the
clock warned me that my time was up and
had not once referred to manuscript. Now
adays make memorandum on an ordinary
sheet of note paper and place it in the Bible.
{ never could do anything with an amanu-
ensis. Members of my family have some
times offered to assist me in my work by
writing letters TO my dictation, but ! never
made a success of IL and much prefer the old
fashioned way. Iprepare much walking the
floor. As my ideas come to me 1ot them
down. can compose best on my feet,
"Spurgeon told me once that he never went
into the pulpit with a prepared sentence IN
bis life keep here in my study little SER
mon text book and whenever a subject occurs
to me that think shall ever want to preach
from jot 1t down and then refer to it oc-
cssionally. But suppose that is common
thing among clergymen. should advise
young man TO systemize his texts, that is keep
a text ledger. l regret that l have never
fallen into that habit and you cannot teach
an old dog new tricks. always consult the
best commentators as to the shades Of mean
ing of a text am not profound linguist;
| never had time or taste for the critical
study of Greek and Hebrew meanings Of
words as some men, used to preach course
sermons, but have given that up long ago.
There are too many breaks In it, accustomed
by exchanging pulpits. Myrule Is to always
be in my pulpit in the morning II possible, but
] make frequent exchanges for evening" p
~ a Mex y IN Brooxlyn Eagle